American fiction -- 19th century; Dime novels; Popular literature
He casts one look down, but no more. That glance will never be
forgotten until his dying day. The Midway seems a mile below, the
moving wheel causes a peculiar sensation to pass over him, a dizzy
feeling, as though the earth were receding, and some mighty bird were
carrying him up, up, higher and higher each second.
After that one terrible experience Craig dares not turn his head again,
though there seems to be a wonderful alluring feature, a sort of deadly
fascination, about the scene below. Perhaps others have felt something
of this same sensation in another form, concerning that same wonderful
Plaisance.
Now he has reached the bottom of the car, which is just about beginning
to move upon the upper half of the arc. This favors his desperate
plans, for the door is within his reach as he hangs upon the massive
tire of this most stupendous of wheels.
The cries coming from the car are agonizing in the extreme. Surely the
professor must have left the boundary of sham and entered upon the mad
reality. He can be heard roaring there like an enraged tiger. Several
of the windows have been broken, but the wire netting prevents him from
casting himself out. He raves like a madman. Presently his mood may
take another turn--prevented from leaping into space by the wisdom of
the Ferris wheel management in fastening the doors and screening the
windows of the cars, he may attempt violence upon his fellow-voyagers
through the air. What may not a crazy man do when mania is upon him?
Craig shuts his teeth hard together, and does not allow this dread to
distract his attention from the serious business before him. It so
happens that just as he gains a position where the door is within his
reach, the wheel ceases to move.
This gives him an opportunity of which he is quick to take advantage.
Although the door cannot be opened from the inside, it is not hard to
open from the outside.
As he succeeds in opening it the young Canadian gazes upon a scene
that arouses all the fighting blood in his veins, for like his cousins
across the water in that “tight little island,” he will never look on
inactive when a brave heart is needed along with a stout arm to protect
the weak.
The crazy professor is a terror--his hair is in a condition of chaos
that would drive a Yale football player green with envy, and delight
the soul of an erratic pianoforte player of the Polish type. Upon his
face there has come a wild look that is not assumed. They played with
fire when they selected the professor to engage in this game, for it
becomes a reality to him.
There he is, wildly flinging his long arms about his head, thundering
phrases in Latin and Greek and Sanscrit, with Heaven alone knows what
grammatical correctness, and raging from one end of the car to the
other, just as the lions in Hagenbeck’s cages do while looking at the
crowds below.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account